Bequia
01 May 2008
Bryan
Again, sorry for the delay. We have had spotty to no access to the internet for some time. WE are actualy in St. Martin now so I have a lot of catching up to do.
We left the lovely Tobago Cays with our tail between our legs for sure. It was another tough slog into the NE winds and waves but we arrived in Bequia (beck'way) with plenty of daylight. I reached for a congratulatory beer. Dang, shouldn't it be colder than this? The fridge has been on all day. Or has it? A search found a salty, dead fridge. A deck drain hose had come loose giving the fridge an hours-long saltwater bath. Man, just once I'd love it if I could get someplace without having to then fix something. On the plus side, the company agreed to send a new part Fed-Ex as a warranty situation so there was no charge. While we were waiting for this to arrive we saw a bit of the island. The highlight was a tour of the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary. There they take turtle eggs and rears them for 5 years so that a better number of them have a chance to survive to adulthood. Asked if this impairs their ability to find their 'home' beach again, they say the jury is still out. They also take in any injured turtles found.
Many of the Windward islands have so-called boat boys, guys that come out to your yacht trying to sell you whatever they have - fruit, T-shirts, jewelry. Most use a small pirogue with an outboard but some only have a surfboard they paddle around on. One guy here motors around calling himself The Bread Man. We bought a loaf of banana bread from him and it turned out to be the worst banana bread I have ever had bare none. I don't know how one goes about ruining banana bread but he succeeded. I even tried frying a slice with lots of butter and then sprinkling sugar on it. Awful. We had a great time stirring the Laughing Gulls into a frenzy with it. They were able to choke it down just fine. Here in Bequia there is no marina but one of the boat boys has taken his craft to a new level. He has built up a company called Dafodil and has a fleet of boats, one of which is a large catamaran containing water and diesel tanks which tie up along side to dispense either. They will also take your laundry and bring it back washed and folded.
We liked Bequia but other islands beckoned. Next up, St. Vincent.